We made it out of the PI successfully and found ourselves in KK, Kota Kinabalu, the main city in Malaysian Borneo. The minute we stepped off the plane the culture shock set in and things just got weirder from there. 1) The information desk at the airport had information. The lady behind the counter not only knew where our hostel was, but she could tell us how to walk there. The typical PI response from people whose jobs consist of having information was a shrug, or more typically, misinformation. 2) There was no garbage lying everywhere. I dont know whats wrong with Malaysia but people try and keep the streets clean... and there are garbage cans in obvious garbage hotspots. 3) There are sidewalks... SIDEWALKS!!! No gaping holes to dodge, no motorcycles weaving in and ... read more

Fun Filipino Facts: 1) There is a standard conversation formula for talking to foreigners. It is as regular as the 1st year college freshman introduction (What's your name?; Where are you from?; What's your major?). If you ever find yourself in the body of a Filipino man here is how it goes: "Where are you from?" "Are you single?" "Have you had any good prostitutes lately?" If the questioner is a woman, replace the 3rd query with "Are you looking for a wife/girlfriend?" 2) No One knows shit about shit. "I dont know" isn't in the Filipino dialect. Small problems can balloon when the correct answer to "Is this the way to the airport?" is "I don't know". Or "Where is 'x' hotel?" answered with "That hotel shut down a few years ago" (wrong). You can ... read more

Herb had gone but Eric and Carla were seduced by the beauty of El Nido into staying another 2 nights. I was unable to convince them to drop the 18000pesos needed for dive certification so Tuesday, alone, I went diving for the first time in 7? years. I headed to Sea Dogs Diving where a British expat runs the show. It was about $80 for 3 dives so who can argue with that. I fumbled with my equipment as our dive leader went over long forgotten hand signals we would be using. I dropped off the boat and we began to descend along a coral encrusted wall. 1ft wide giant clams clung to the wall and schools of brightly colored fish swam past. One of my most vivid memories from my intro dives in San Diego ... read more

I like to travel without a plan. You never know when you will want to extend your stay or change countries. Plans have a nasty habit of going wrong whether illness or traffic or civil unrest. I cannot imagine being forced out of paradise by a plane ticket bought too far in advance. I thought I was wise in the school no-plan travel until I joined Pearl. She puts my no plan style to shame. Pearl is the master of no-plan. She is the grizzled veteran of free floating travel standing next to an OCD planning obsessed monster that is me. Not only did she come travelling devoid of ID (some might say a necessity for air travel) but she also came without money. Since leaving Davao we have been hopping from place to place with ... read more

The Storm Before The Storm Dear Diary: I don't really know what i'm doing here. Ive never tried to blog things before and i may have to type code somewhere in the mix so this could be real messy. Bear with me. Some of you people may have read an email or two from previous trips. These came out every few weeks and tended to be so long winded I usually lost interest in writing half way through. There were happy bits, funny bits, hitchhiking, wild rental car rides, hellishly horrendous bus rides, puking in buckets, mountainous shredding, coconut mishaps, drugs &/or alcohol, bad fish, thefts, crazed hitchhikers pulling knives on the whole party, avalanches, friendly locals, ssshpelunking, tourist scams, huge ass'ed brazillians, bathtub liquor, sweater vests, language stumbles, being puked on by companions after drinking ... read more